What I usually do at this stage of the game is get a blank pad of paper and a good pen, go to the park (assuming it's a nice day) or someplace quiet and think. Another good place is the local library, although the office conference room will do in a pinch.



The idea is to stay away from a computer. You don't want to have any temptations near you at all. No terminals, no keyboards, no internet access, no email. Why not? I've also found it's much easier to think without distractions like a ringing phone or a demanding email program.

So think about what you are trying to communicate. This is probably one of the most important parts of the design process. Does it right at the beginning and your web site will just come together by itself. Mess it up now, for more details visit to www.html-lockdown.com and you may find yourself making endless changes and fighting it for a long period of time.

I've found it's best to start from general terms (this is referred to top-down design) and work my way to the specifics. For example, let's say I have decided to make a web site about domestic cats and my audience is cat owners. All right, what am I trying to tell these cat owners?

I might begin by saying, well; I want to teach them some of the tricks that I have learned to make cat ownership more fun and fulfilling. I might also want to sell them some products (that is a form of communication) as well. In addition, I may want to stress ethical treatment of animals.

Now I can start putting this together in an outline or list or whatever you like. This is a thinking process, so just write down whatever you feel is important in as organized a manner as is appropriate. What you are doing is trying to get your thoughts organized and written down - this is nothing formal and it definitely does not need to be seen by anyone else. Formal design comes later; this is more of a high level analysis.

I might wind up with a list of things to teach my visitors about cats. The idea here is to give people some information which makes the site valuable for them. This is important regardless of whether or not the site is commercial - you must give people something of value or they will not remain at your site, for more details visit to www.magic-mini-site.com they will not come back and they will not recommend to anyone else.

You may also start to consider briefly how you are going to communicate your messages. Think a little bit about graphics, sounds and other multimedia at this point. Staying with the cat example, I might want to include a chart of cat breeds with a picture of each breed, along with a description and favorite food. I may also want to include video or sounds to communicate better. Remember, you are not creating the web site or its contents at this time - you are defining the boundaries.